If you are ill and suffering from cough, body ache and sore throat, there may be two possibilities causing this- cold or flu. Since the symptoms are so similar, it’s hard to differentiate between the two. A cold is a mild respiratory sickness and lasts for a few days. On the other hand, flu is a more severe illness than cold and tends to last for a few days to weeks. Listed below are its main differences:

Mild and severe symptoms
Symptoms of a cold are usually moderate and include stuffy nose, sneezing, and headaches. Some patients also experience a sore throat. Flu symptoms are worse and include body aches, fatigue, muscle aches in addition to cold symptoms.

Fever
This sign is the main difference between a cold and a flu. A common cold rarely shoots up fever levels. However, in flu, fever can reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and can last anywhere between 3 and 5 days.

Nausea and vomiting
There is usually no vomiting or nausea associated with a cold, whereas patients with flu experience vomiting or diarrhea. Vomiting in the flu is most persistent in children.

Chills and shivers
A person suffering from cold will experience mild chills or shivers. But if it is a flu, chills and shivering symptoms are more severe and last for a longer duration of time.

Exhaustion
You will not feel much exhaustion from simple daily activities like walking, bending, or climbing stairs if you have a cold. But if you are down with the flu, extreme exhaustion at the beginning of the illness is commonly experienced.

Time period
An easy method to detect the differences between cold and flu is to mark when it occurs. Flu season is generally (but not restricted) from fall to spring of the year.

Onset
People struggling from cold may realize that the onset signs develop gradually and start with sore throat or runny nose. The flu instantly affects the body and the symptoms start to aggressively develop.

Duration
A cold takes a maximum of 2 to 3 days to run away from a body. The flu lasts for a week and may require hospitalization in severe cases. Flu can sometimes lead to serious health issues like pneumonia too.

Cough
Mild to moderate cough is associated with the common cold. Patients may suffer from a hacking cough, along with other cold symptoms. In flu, coughing and chest discomfort are excessively common and can become quite acute after a few days.

Runny nose
A runny or stuffy nose is a sure symptom of a common cold. But this symptom is not so common when it comes to the flu. Sneezing also occurs very rarely in the flu.